Abstract

In this paper, we deconstruct how geography is organized as an academic study in the Netherlands. We consider how human and physical foci in geography are included in undergraduate and graduate curricula. As a country with a long academic history and renowned geography programmes, the minimal integration between human and physical geography that we identified is remarkable. We reflect on one high-profile societal debate to illustrate the limitations of the current way of conceptualizing geography as a degree programme: the case of human-induced earthquakes in the Dutch province of Groningen due to gas extraction. We argue that countries with academic geography education similar to the Netherlands stand to gain from embracing the integrative aspects to the field of geography. This is particularly the case when considering processes of global change that rapidly and, arguably, increasingly influence socio-spatial inequalities and livelihoods from global to local levels.

Highlights

  • We argue that separating the ‘social environment’ and ‘physical environment’ in education, such as is common practice in geography academic degree programmes in the Netherlands, limits the position of future geographers to tackle issues of global, regional and local changes in an integrative way

  • We introduce how the segregation between human and physical perspectives in Dutch geography studies limits establishing holistic approaches to very pressing societal issues that are at the forefront of recent media attention in the Netherlands

  • Many technical solutions were sought from a sole earth sciences perspective, including a spatio-temporal change in gas extraction rates, increasing the spatial density of tremors measurements (Ntinalexis et al, 2019) and relating them to geological fault lines and gas extraction rates

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Summary

Erik Meijles and Arie Stoffelen

Electronic reference Erik Meijles and Arie Stoffelen, “The need for a more integrated approach between human and physical geography at university-level education in the Netherlands ”, Belgeo [Online], 4 | 2021, Online since 01 March 2022, connection on 04 March 2022. This text was automatically generated on 4 March 2022. The need for a more integrated approach between human and physical geography. We would like to thank Arnold Bregt for providing information on the position of Wageningen University and Arjan van den Assem for earlier discussions on the CROHO system. We are very thankful to Gunnar Mallon for commenting on an earlier draft of this paper, as well as to the reviewers and editor for their helpful, constructive and positive comments

Introduction
The position of geography in the Dutch university educational system
Deconstructing geography as an academic study in the Netherlands
Sociale Geografie en UU Planologie
Climate change
Natural sciences
The interface
The interdisciplinary
Explicit link between
Strong human geography
Real estate RUG studies
Human UvA Geography
Attention to the Focus on
Earth surface Social
Visible through an General multiinternational
Forest and Nature
Findings
Social science perspectives
Full Text
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